Is this the blend door issue?

[pw1981]

I am wondering if I am suffering from the blend door actuator motor issue or something else. I have AC coming from the vents. When I turn to floor or defrost, it remains at the vents. Very rarely, it will switch to floor and back, but the defroster is not functional at all.

Is that the blend door motor? If so, should I fix it myself?

I have an 03 Explorer with less than 50K miles.

 

[skeeter123]

Can you still change temp setting from hot to cold (and have hot or cold air coming out). The blend door controls the "blending" of hot and cold air, to achieve the desired temp; it uses an electric motor & plastic gears to move the blend door. The door which controls where the air goes is not motor-driven, but uses a vacuum-driven actuator to move its door. This vacuum actuator/door is located under the passenger dashboard, just to the left of the glove compartment. If you take off the glovebox, lay on your back, and look up to the left of the glovebox you'll see this actuator with a vacuum line coming out the back. With car running, move the selector from defrost to floor and back, listen for the hiss of vacuum and see if you see the actuator trying to move the door lever. On mine the actuator was fine but the lever it connects to broke (its also plastic). Maybe you'll get lucky and its just that the vacuum line came off.
Hope this helps....

 

[pw1981]

Ok, good info. Yes, the temp adjustment works perfectly. I will look into the vacuum issue more. Come to think of it, this didn't start until I fished some wires around over there... I wonder if I knocked something loose?

Again, thanks!

 

[skeeter123]

Also FYI, a telltale sign that the plastic teeth have broken off within a blend door actuator motor is a rythmic clicking or thumping when changing temp setting from hot/cold.

 

[Allmost 50]

Thank you Skeeter123 for the info.
I've owned my Explorer for a little over a month and have the same problem. The vacuum sounds normal when changing from floor to defrost to dash air. A 2 second hiss than the hiss goes silent. Just no change in where the air flows from, which is the dash.
Two quick questions.
Is the xls actuator control the same as the xlt as you mentioned?
Being very mechanically inclined is this a straight forward job to repair a broken lever? I'm ready to tackle it.
Thanks again
04 xls with 69k miles

 

[skeeter123]

I've gotten pretty familiar with my 2002 XLT 4.6L, but I don't know if XLS is same/different, and maybe if "Climate Control" option is available (I know I don't have it)that may also make a difference.

Sorry AlmostFifty....I'm just over fifty... and I broke my right arm a few years ago, and had rotatorcuff surgery on my right shoulder as well. I'd suggest just sticking your head under there and eyeballing it in action. If you hear the vacuum hiss and stop, you'll be able to see the acuator arm (little shiny metal bar ~1.5" long) going in and out. It is normally connected to the black plastic door lever. Mine's been broke for almost 2 years now... I'm in Florida and we hardly ever have to have the defrost to work. I positioned the vent door so that the air comes out a little at the defrost, a little from the vents, and just put up with it. A while back I fashioned a "fix" from a piece of plastic with a metal screw thru it, and tried to glue it to what's left of the lever. On my back, on my shoulder, twisting wrist to try to put in in place, dropped it into the abyss. Made another piece, dropped it as well. Someday when I try again I'll take the passenger seat out first. That would make it easier to access. If I remember correctly, the lever is just part of the door-piece, the whole door must be replaced, which requires removing the dashboard, which I'm not going to do.

One thing I figured out after my rear blend door actuator went out, and then this front vent-door broke, is that these things are made of plastic and will fail under stress; the most stressful time is when they are moving/switching when the fan is on max/high. That is, if you jump in the car, turn the fan on high, then turn temp full hot to full cold or vice versa, the plastic gears have to open/shut these doors against the gail-force wind. Mine also has separate rear controls which can be set/played with by kids in the back....if you change from "front-seat controls" to "back-seat controls" the back seat controls may be in an unknown state (full-blast hot or full-blast cold) That's when the actuators break....

 

[LowSpeedChase]

Great info Skeeter. I've been looking for some info on how to fix my blend issues as well. I'll be checking for the hissing today!

 

[LowSpeedChase]

Hey i just figured out that i have no pressure to move the door! I can move it by hand and change the direction of the air though. Where does the pressure come from for this unit?